winchell



No. 623,754. PatentedApr. 25, I899.

' J. r. WINCHELL.

MACHINE FDR REMUVING PITI'I, 81.0., FROM STALKS.

(Application filed Aug. 24, .1898.)

(No Moder.)

INVENTOR S E S S F. N l W ATTORNEY.

UNITE Starts JAMES F. \VINCHELL, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE FOOS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR REMOVING PITH, 800., FROM STALKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,754, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed August 2 1898. Serial No. 689,442. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES F. l/VINOHELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spring field, in the countyof Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Removing Pith or Cellulose from Stalks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in machines for removing pith or cellulose from stalks.

My present invention is designed as an improvement upon the pith-removing mechanism embodied in my application filed May 9, 1898, Serial No. 680,091.

The object of the present invention is to prevent the excessive wear of the platform or support for the stalks under the scraper and also for preventing the breaking of such stalks. The high speed of rotation (about four thousand revolutions per minute) of this scraper, together with the grit and sand carried by the stalks, particularly by the roots in cases where the stalks have been pulled up, is found to create a cutting action which rapidly wears away the surface of such platform unless it is made to travel with the stalks as they pass under this scraper. This invention overcomes such wearing defect in the platform type of stalk-support. The essential new feature by which this result is accomplished is in so making this support that it will move with the stalks and will constantly present a new or fresh surface immediately beneath the scraper, such support being mounted in stationary bearings, while the scraper is mounted in yielding bearings, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and on which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machineentire on the same plan and of the same type as that shown in my application above referred to, except as to my new form of pithremoving mechanism; Fig. 2, a plan view of said machine and new form'of pith-removing mechanism; Fig. 3, a rear elevation of the same, and Fig. 4 a detail perspective View of the bearing-frame for the scraper which forms a part of the pith-removing mechanism.

The letter A designates a suitable bed with its standards or legs. On this bed are mounted the several groups of mechanism which constitute the machinefirst, the centering and feeding mechanism, as shown at D and C, by which the cornstalks are centered to and fed in a central line; second, the stalk-splitting mechanism, as shown at D, by which the stalks are longitudinally split open and the parts properly presented to the next mechanism third, the stalk-unfolding mechanism E E, by which the divided parts of the stalks are unfolded and incidentally fed,and,fourth, the feeding and retarding mechanism F F, by which the unfolded parts of the stalk are properly fed to the pith-removing mechanism and properly retarded against the pulling action of that mechanism, all being substan-' tially like or identical with the corresponding mechanisms embraced in my said application above recited.

Referring now to my new pith-removing mechanism, its consists of an upper revolving scraper 2 and a lower traveling support This scraper has blades or wings 4 of the contour shown, so as to fit the nearly-flattened inside of divided stalks, and the periphery of the wings left blunt and beveled, so as to take off the rearward corner, as shown, so thatinstead of cutting the pith it acts to scrape it out, having also a beating action. The arbor of the scraper is mounted in bearings on the frame 5, pivotally mounted upon the bed at 6 and having rods 7 connected to it and passing through and beneath the top of the bed and carrying springs which act at one end against the bed and at the other against a suitable adjustable shoulder on the rod formed by a washer and nut 9. By these means the scraper-frame is under a constant downward tension. The frame yields upward with the scraper when itis acting on the passing stalks. It yields also as the joints of the stalks vpass under'the scraper to keep the scraper from cutting too deeply into the shell, which would take off the Woody fiber and mix it with the pith, a thing to be avoided. The pulley 10 on the scraper-arbor is driven by a belt 11, by which the scraper is rotated at the desired ICO speed, usually about four thousand revolutions per minute. The new feature so far described with respect to this pith-removing mechanism is that of making the scraper yield upward. To limit the downward movement of the scraper-bearing frame and to adjust it so that it will occupy the proper position from time to time as the parts wear, I provide such frame with a yoke 12, which rests upon an adjustable block 13, having an inclined surface mounted upon a stud lat with a like inclined surface and controlled by an adjusting-bolt 15. By adjusting this block laterally its height is varied and the bearing-frame adjusted accordingly.

The traveling support is in the form of a roller mounted in bearings 16, carried by the machine-bed. The periphery of the roller is eoueaved slightly, as shown at 17, to fit the curvature of the scraper. These curves are slight, as the portions of the stalk are nearly Ilat as they pass through the pith-removing mechanism. This roller-su pport is so mounted that it revolves by the friction of the traveling cornstalks. It thus rotates with the rotating scraper and travels, so to speak, with the traveling cornstalks. The result is that the cutting or abrasive action of the scraper from the grit or sand falling from the corn, as experienced in the non-traveling stalk-support, at this point is completelyavoided, a material thing in this class of machinery, for I have ascertained that the cutting or abrasive action will destroy the usefulness of a nontraveling support in less than a day. Besides avoiding this cutting action the roller-support constantly presents a new surface to the corn, and thus will last indefinitely, notwithstanding the unavoidable friction and rubbing it gets from the stalks. It should also be observed that the cutting and abrasive action referred to produces inequalities in the surface of the non-traveling stalk-support, and these inequalities cause the scraper to act too deeply when the stalks are going over the elevations and not deeply enough when the stalks are going over the depressions, while at times the scraper will cut entirely through the stalks when the latter are on the high points of the support. All these difficulties and objections are completely done away with by this present and new form of pith-removing mechanism.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine for removing pith or cellulose from stalks, the pith-removing mechanism consisting of a revoluble scraper, a pivoted bearing-frame in which the scraper is mounted, springs drawing on the frame, and an adjustable stop to limit one movement of the frame, and a roller stalk-support mounted in fixed bearings and adapted to move with the traveling stalks, the periphery of the scraper and of the support being slightlycurved and substantial counterparts.

2. In amachine for removing pith or cellulose from stalks, the pith-removing mechanism consisting of a pivoted bearing-frame, pendent rods provided with springs to draw downward 011 them, a yoke on the frame, an adjustable block to vary the lower limit of the yoke, a revoluble scraper mounted in said frame and a stalk-support roller mounted in fixed bearings and beneath said scraper, the peripheries of the scraper and support being substantial counterparts and slightly curved, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES F. \VINOIIELL.

\Vitnesses:

\V. M. MCNAIR, G. L. SNIDER. 

